Cruz ends talkathon, yields Senate floor after 21 hours

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is seen on a television screen in the Senate Press Gallery during the tenth hour of his speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013 in Washington. Cruz began a lengthy speech urging his colleagues to oppose moving ahead on a bill he supports. The measure would prevent a government shutdown and defund Obamacare.

Photo By Evan Vucci

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is seen on a television screen in the Senate Press Gallery during the tenth hour of his speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013 in Washington. Cruz began a lengthy speech urging his colleagues to oppose moving ahead on a bill he supports. The measure would prevent a government shutdown and defund Obamacare.

Photo By Charles Dharapak

The sun rises over the U.S. Capitol as Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, continues his filibuster on the Senate floor in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013. Cruz says he will speak until he's no longer able to stand in opposition to President Barack Obama's health care law. Cruz began a lengthy speech urging his colleagues to oppose moving ahead on a bill he supports. The measure would prevent a government shutdown and defund Obamacare.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid calmly rejected a request from Sen. Ted Cruz late this morning to continue his marathon remarks on Obamacare beyond the official beginning of the Senate's next legislative day at noon.

Reid's decision set the stage for a procedural vote at 1 pm on whether the Senate should proceed to consider House-passed legislation to underwrite continued federal operations into the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 without funds to implement President Barack Obama's overhaul of the nation's health insurance issue.

The rapid floor debate featured Cruz speaking more slowly and with less energy than colleagues, after marathon speechmaking overnight.

Reid did not immediately act on additional requests by Cruz, including a suggestion that the Senate vote on Friday on the GOP-passed House measure to defund Obamacare rather than on Saturday. Cruz said Americans would be immersed in watching football games and weekend chores on Saturday and would miss an important Senate debate and vote unless it took place Friday.

Reid told Cruz and the handful of senators on the floor at that time that he wanted to "compress" the debate in order to speed Senate action. Reid said he wanted to get the House-passed continuing funding resolution through the Senate and back to the House to give lawmakers time to act before federal funding expires on Sept. 30 provoking a threatened government shutdown on Oct. 1 .